


What's in a Name?

by glymr



Category: Robin (Comics), Superboy (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Meme: Party Favors, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-15
Updated: 2010-10-15
Packaged: 2018-07-25 11:26:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7530919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glymr/pseuds/glymr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He liked having a human name.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's in a Name?

Kon glanced around. The TV flickered as Gar and Bart battled in the video game. Gar was thoroughly engaged, while Bart was quite literally dividing his time between playing the game and making pancakes. Every so often the pancake in the pan would seem to leap in the air and flip of its own accord, until finally it ended up on top of a steaming stack and a new pool of batter took its place in the pan.   
  
Tim sat at the table, occasionally taking a sip of his tea, his eyes never leaving his laptop screen. Cassie yawned and nursed a cup of coffee as she blearily glanced through the paper. Kory paged through a magazine. Vic was doing something obscure with a small bit of machinery plugged into his arm.  
  
Taking a breath, Kon said, "Hey, guys?"   
  
Cassie and Kory looked up at him. Kon heard the chime of the "Pause" button and the sound of the game disappeared.   
  
Tim glanced at him in acknowledgment before focusing on the screen before him again. Vic didn't take his eyes off the machinery, but he said, "Yeah?"  
  
"Um," Kon felt a bit sheepish, "I'd like it if...I'd like to be called 'Conner', now. Instead of Kon."  
  
Now Tim and Vic did look up. Every person in the room was staring at him.  
  
"Okay," said Bart, "Conner." The sound of the video game came back on. Gar's voice rose, complaining that he 'wasn't ready'.  
  
Cassie shrugged and smiled a little at him. "Sure."  
  
"Of course, Conner," said Kory. Vic just nodded.  
  
"How do you spell it?" asked Tim.  
  
"C - O - N - N - E - R."  
  
Tim nodded. "Green Arrow - the younger one - his name is 'Connor', too. He spells it with two 'O's, though."  
  
Conner frowned. "Coonner?"  
  
Tim cracked up. "No," he explained after a moment, "C - O - N - N - O - R."  
  
"Oh," said Conner. "Gotcha." He could see Cassie hiding a grin behind her coffee cup and winked at her. She scrunched up her nose at him.  
  
"Why the sudden change?" asked Tim.  
  
Conner drew a hand back through his hair. "Um," he said, "I dunno. They're calling me 'Conner' at the place I'm living now, and I guess it'll be...less confusing?" He hadn't meant that to be a question.   
  
"Okay," said Tim, and let it go, much to Conner's relief.  
  
There was more to it than that, of course. The problem was, the truth sounded so corny that there was no way Conner could say it out loud.  
  
He liked having a human name. First he'd been Superman, then Superboy, then 'The Kid'. And then Superman had given him his Kryptonian name, 'Kon-El', and that had been awesome.   
  
But he didn't live on Krypton, he lived on *Earth*.   
  
It wasn't that he wanted to be 'normal' or blend in. It was just that...well, everyone had a name, a real name. Vic and Gar and Kory and Bart and Cassie and Tim. Clark Kent.   
  
Conner Kent.  
  
A medium-sized stack of pancakes appeared in front of each of them. Bart grinned from behind his own enormous stack. "Dig in!" he said cheerfully.   
  
Conner dug.


End file.
